This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-50128, filed on Aug. 23, 2002, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a micro-scale channel unit, and more particularly, to a micro channel unit having the shape of a connecting channel portion in order to reduce the pressure loss at a connection portion between adjacent straight channel portions in the channel unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent days, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) are frequently used in the fields of life science, genetic engineering, disease diagnosis and new drug development for the detection and analysis of DNA or proteins, the measurement of micro volumes of vital metabolites and reactants, etc. As such, research on micro fluidic MEMS is a key factor to further miniaturize and improve the performance of existing analysis equipment.
For example, biochips used for new drug development and blood analysis include micro-scale channel units through which a fluid specimen to be analyzed passes. In this respect, it is desirable to make a channel in a micro-scale channel unit long enough to improve the performance of material extraction, chemical reactions, and mixing of substances.
However, micro channel units cannot accommodate only straight channels due to the miniature size of the biochip. To solve this problem, as shown in FIG. 8, connecting channel portions 120 and 130 curved at 90 and 180 degrees are used to connect adjacent straight channel portions 110, thereby providing long flow passages in the limited space of a micro channel unit 100. The widths of the connecting channel portions 120 and 130 are usually the same as those of the straight channel portions 110.
However, compared with a case where fluid passes through the straight channel portions 110, the fluid suffers much more pressure loss when it passes through the curved connecting channel portions 120 and 130. Also, the longer the channel becomes, the more pressure loss occurs. Therefore, more power to drive the fluid flow and so a relatively larger pump are required, which is undesirable for a miniaturized biochip.
Thus, it is of great importance to adequately design the connecting parts of the channel unit to reduce the fluid pressure loss.